Two Sides of A Coin

My husband and I wanted a place to share our projects...I do crafting (e.g. cards, sewing, etc...), household projects, and parties for kids. My husband makes toy trucks, household projects (e.g. closet redesign), and helps with party decorations and games. While he's a professional contractor, we do this for fun. We both cook, but I am more likely to try new and different recipes. We'll be trying out Pinterest items and reporting back.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Heart Attacks - My First Silhouette Craft

So my amazing DH bought me a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas - wow, I am a serious fan!! So far, it has been so fun!

First - what's a Silhouette? Several of my friends asked the same question when I was telling them how excited I was about it. This is a cutting machine. Basically it will cut out whatever I ask it to cut out.

So, for my first project, I made Heart Attacks to mail to my grandparents, my friend stationed in Baghdad, and one of my cousins in college. I got a gift card for their on-line shop and downloaded the girl with heart design into my Silhouette. You can see how the machine cuts out parts.

I then had to take the pieces and glue them together - this created several different girls.

Note: If you are a Silhouette user, I found organizing the designs into separate color files allowed me to get the dresses, hair, etc... in the colors I wanted. I fill the paper up since it seems each piece of paper can only go through the cutter once. I ended up with extra pieces, but I just kept them for another day.

Then, I downloaded a cool font off the internet. I found this font on Pinterest but really you can use any font. The Silhouette will cut out almost every font - but it helps if it's not too "delicate" - the thinner, the harder it is to remove from the Silhouette mat without damaging it. (As I said, I am still a beginner).

I then had the Silhouette cut hearts out of tons of different papers - different sizes and styles. I just downloaded one sheet of heart designs from Silhouette, broke it apart, and then manipulated the hearts to fit. I used 12x12, 8x10, and 8" squared papers. Double-sided paper works best for this type of project.

I bought these heart envelopes at my local post office. Packed it all up and off my "heart attacks" to bring a little cheer to someone's day.